


Master of Ciphers

by alphatoothless



Category: Gravity Falls, Reverse Falls - Fandom
Genre: A!RF, Dark Magic, M/M, More tags to be added as story goes on, Willdip, alternate realm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:42:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29750811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphatoothless/pseuds/alphatoothless
Summary: In the end, the nightmares always come back.
Relationships: Dipper Gleeful/Will Cipher
Kudos: 7





	1. The Bait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bait is set.

Dipper cursed internally, running as fast as his legs would let him. He grit his teeth as he leaped over a fallen tree, nearly slipping as he dared to glance back. He huffed and ran faster, eyes focused on the next obstacle as he leaped over another tree trunk. 

The sounds of trees snapping and cracking in half behind him only made him run faster. He put every bit of energy into escaping, his body pumping adrenaline as his mind found solace in the sight of the manor before him. He ducked under one last tree branch before he made his way into the clearing before his home. 

He kept running, relief pumping in his veins before he felt it - something quickly wrapped around his ankle, forcing him to fall forward with a snap of his ankle back. With the wind knocked out of him, he gasped as he skidded to the ground. He tried to focus any of his energy to try and jolt his leg free, but with no avail. He glanced back at the manor. 

Shit. 

He was dragged back quickly before he had a chance to grab hold of even the ground, his heart pounding hard as he disappeared among trees. He cried out, clawing at the ground as he watched the manor disappear from view. 

It was the last thing he saw before he returned to endless darkness.


	2. The Game Has Changed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the return.

“Has anyone seen Dipper?” Mabel folded her arms, standing by the dining table where Stanford and Stanley were resting, paperwork scattered haphazardly around the oak table. Both men looked up from their work then, Stanley looking over his glasses in with a look of disinterest and Stanford’s eyebrows furrowed in mild annoyance to be distracted from his reading. 

“Have you checked with that servant of his?” Stanford asked, looking back down at his notes. He flipped his pencil between fingers, already looking as if he were returning to what he was originally designing. 

“William!” Mabel snapped her fingers, tapping her foot in annoyance as she awaited the demon’s arrival. 

Will appeared then, his hair frazzled and his only eye tired as he towered above the girl. He awaited her command, his dull cyan eye boring into her. 

“Have you seen Dipper?” 

“No, mistress, I haven’t seen the young master.” Will stated simply, his voice bleak. “Not since this morning for breakfast.” 

“Did he say anything specific this morning when I left?” Mabel asked.

“No, not that I remember.” Will seemed to be catching on then, his eyebrows furrowing slightly in the only show of emotion he ever expressed around the family. “No one has seen him, then?” 

“He might just be running around the woods searching for god knows what.” Stanley sighed, glaring down at his paperwork. “He’s always doing something in those damn woods.”

Will looked at the larger man, hiding his disdain. He knew, as a fact, that Dipper was not usually in the woods, as he hated being outside unless absolutely necessary. Mabel seemed to think the same as she rolled her eyes and turned away. Stanley never had been very aware of Dipper’s habits, having been more a mentor for Mabel then the male twin. 

“Mabel, wait.”

The mistress turned to look at Stanford, who was frowning. 

“Has Dipper mentioned anything lately...about a book?”

“He’s always talking about books, you’ll have to be more specific.” 

Will stated at Stanford carefully then, his eye narrowing slightly. 

“I’d lent the boy a book recently.” Stanford looked back down at his notes. “I doubt anything could have come from it, but Dipper is also a studious boy. I’d wager he might have gotten into something he shouldn’t have.” 

“What book?” Mabel asked, reflecting Will’s concerns. 

“A book of black magic.” Stanford hummed, tapping his paperwork. “I didn’t think he could crack any of the enchantments, but if you don’t find him by tonight...”

Will felt himself bristle, but kept his composure. These adults were the least qualified for watching the two teenagers, which was probably how Will had been roped into becoming a makeshift guardian for them when he’d been captured. 

“Is there anything in this book that could have done something...fatal?”

“I’m not entirely sure. I never did get around to translating it.” Stanford shrugged, smiling a crooked grin at the two. “That’s why I gave it to Dipper. I figured it would be something fun and he’d be able to crack the language for me.” 

Will clenched his jaw tight. His nephew was, as usual, a guinea pig. He felt his blood boil as he turned to Mabel, who sighed.

“Well, nothing can be done about that now.” Mabel tapped her forehead. “I suppose I’ll have to go find my idiot brother then. William.”

“Mistress.”

“You’re coming with me. If he really has done something with that book, I’ll need your assistance.”

“Yes, mistress.” 

Will bowed to the Stans, but not before glaring at them. If these chains ever loosened their grip around his magic, they would be the first to perish. Stanford’s smirk only widened into a full smile at the glare and Stanley had only huffed and returned to circling something on a paper. 

Will followed Mabel out of the room, their direction shifting to scale the main stairs of the manor and into Dipper’s room. Mabel opened the door, revealing exactly what Will expected. 

Papers were strewn across the room, with various writing throughout all of them. A black light rested in the middle of the floor, leading Will to narrow his eye. He walked forward, careful not to step on any of the papers as he plucked the paper trapped under the black light. 

‘I N T O T H E W O O D S I G O’

Will clenched his jaw as he read Dipper’s handwriting under the human’s shaky scribbling of a language Will hoped he’d never see again. He felt the paper crumple in his hand as he looked around the room. Dipper’s writing was everywhere, scribbled over sheets from various attempts at deciphering the supposed book. 

“Did you find something?”

Will turned to see Mabel glance at the paper clenched in his hand. 

“Mistress, I believe Dipper may be in grave trouble.” 

“Why do you say that?” Mabel turned to face him from where she’s been bent over, clutching a few of the loose papers.

“The book that Stanford has lent to Dipper is a book of my people.” Will felt his heart pound in his chest as he could only imagine what Dipper had gotten himself into. “A very dark book - and if I’m not mistaken, a book that instructs exactly how to open a portal into my homeland.” 

“Then you can just go get him back then.” Mabel stated simply.

“I’m afraid not.” Will sighed and rubbed his eye with his free hand. “This realm - it is a place I risked my very life to escape, which is how I ended up here. Those in this realm, they do not escape, and if they do, it is not unscathed.” 

“Are you even sure Dipper’s there?”

Will looked down at the papers around him, his eye scanning over the various papers. Each one showed more and more pages translated, each another key to unlocking the portal. Will felt his stomach churn with each paper - filled with Dipper’s notes. 

He picked up a final paper, his heart clenching. 

‘Unfathomable creature?’ Was written to the side under a long, translated note was written. Dipper had not only managed to translate the language itself, but crack the very code behind the writing itself. He cursed the boy for being so smart and so incredibly naive at the same time. 

“I’m afraid so, mistress. And if the master has been gone since this morning, I’m afraid we don’t have much time left.” 

“Before what?” Mabel looked nervous then, something Will hadn’t seen in the mistress in the entire time he’d been under their servitude. 

“Before he meets a fate worse than anything death could possibly offer.” 

“How do we open this ‘portal’ then?” Mabel’s voice was urgent, the weight of the situation hitting them both. 

“There’s - I haven’t opened such a portal in a very long time because of the shear amount of magic needed - it would take a being’s entire life force to open such a portal. I’m not even sure if it can be reopened.” Will’s eye scanned over the room before finding a paper with a large design drawn over it. “But I think the young master may have...created one.” 

“Created one?”

Will’s eye scanned over the document, his fangs digging into his lip. 

“Somehow, the young master managed to...design a portal. I...I’m not even sure how.” Will squinted and looked through the various elements of the drawn portal. “But...this might work. We may be able to replicate this.” 

“And what happens when we get in there?”

Will shook his head.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you join me, mistress. I’ll have to do this alone.” 

“I’m going with you, William.” Mabel stated sternly. “Dipper is my brother.”

“And he is my master.” Will retorted. “The problem isn’t where the loyalties lie, but how to survive this realm.” 

Will turned to glance around the room again. He picked up one sheet, then another, then another. He placed them on the bed, where Mabel made her way over to scan through the documents. Shadowy creatures were scribbled all over the sheets in dark pen - as if drawn in a fever-like state. 

“What...what are these?”

“Only a fraction of the creatures that roam this realm. They are nightmares, extracted from the minds of the darkest humans to protect the realm from chaos. Unfortunately, at some point they turned on even the inhabitants of my world and served to turn the entirety of the realm dark - into a world of pure chaos.” Will’s head began to hurt as he stared at them. The scars clawed over his chest began to throb, forcing him to press a hand against them. “They are ruthless killers and will do anything to hunt down their prey.”

“You...you don’t think Dipper...?”

“We must hurry, mistress.” Will snatched the sheet of the portal from the bed and walked past Mabel, his heart pounding hard in his chest. 

“William.”

Will stiffened as he turned to see Stanford smirk at him from the other side of the hall, his arms folded.

“Sir.” 

“I have one favor to ask of you before you go.” 

William pressed his tongue against his fangs, preparing to silence himself. He nodded.

“Say hello to Him for me.” 

Will tensed his entire body to keep from lunging forward, instead narrowing his eye. He grit his teeth and turned, heading Mabel follow quickly behind him. His blood was boiling and he was seeing red. 

“William, what did he mean?” Mabel asked behind him as he stormed outside. 

“You needn’t worry about it, mistress.” Will seethed, hissing through his fangs. “We need to get to a clearing in the woods. There may be remnants of Dipper’s portal there that we can scrap together to make a new one.”

“But where would he have gone? The woods are several acres long.” 

“I have an idea.” Will walked quickly, his magic tingling at the feeling of Dipper’s remnant flow in the area. He paused, feeling it suddenly stop before the manor. He narrowed his eye. He was here. 

He was right here. 

Will felt a stabbing in his gut as his breath hitched. He felt it then - the other aura that clung to the air. 

“Those beasts.” Will hissed. 

“One of the shadow creatures?”

“They have him.” Will could feel the rage claw through him then. “They must have escape through the portal.” 

“And come after Dipper?”

“They must have dragged him back.” Will hastily made his way through the forest, following the magic trail closely. He had an idea of where Dipper would place such a portal - in the event he would find himself in trouble. 

So that Will would find him. 

Mabel followed closely behind, watching Will storm through openings and use magic to clear tree branches from their path. She’s never seen the demon so angry, even sensing the pure energy wafting off the demon in waves. 

When they reached a clearing, Will growled. Mabel could see it - the portal. It was flickering, as if damaged somehow, but it rested in the middle of the clearing, wide and ominous. Around it, metal clamps held the opening out. Within, black masses swirled and twitched, daring anyone to have the courage to enter. It crackled and snapped, leaving Will to tremble as he walked closer. It was clear the portal had at one point closed, but had been reopened shortly - from the other side. 

Someone wanted Will to enter. 

“Is...is that it?” 

“This is it, mistress.” Will took a deep breath. He stood in front of the portal, his body shaking uncontrollably as he stared inside. 

“Will, let me go with you.”

“I’m...afraid I can’t let you.” Will turned to look at her. “I do have a request, however.”

Mabel frowned.

“If I don’t return, please know I did everything in my power. Know that I...I would give my life for the master’s.” Will watched Mabel’s eyes soften as she frowned.

“Will...”

“If the portal closes, use this.” Will held the paper out to her, watching her take it. “Do whatever you can to keep it open as long as possible.” 

“What about those shadow creatures?”

“They won’t come out here.” Will looked at the portal once more. “I will return shortly, mistress.” 

Will swallowed thickly and walked forward, allowing the black, inky entrance to consume him whole.


End file.
